FC Barcelona has just crossed a symbolic threshold.
For the first time in its history, the Catalan club has surpassed one billion euros in ordinary revenue in a single season.
In 2025–2026, Barça generated exactly **€1.060 billion**, representing a 7% increase compared to the previous financial year.
An exceptional figure.
However, at the bottom of the income statement, another figure appears:
−18 million euros.
How can one of the highest-earning clubs in the world still lose money?
That is precisely where the figures become interesting.
📊 1.06 billion euros: Barça breaks its record
Barça's economic growth is real.
Revenue from stadium operations rose by 29% to €225 million, despite a season in which the club was not yet able to operate the Spotify Camp Nou at full capacity.
Sponsorship reaches €265 million.
Merchandising now generates €208 million, an increase of €40 million over the previous season.
In total, commercial activity amounts to €527 million, up 11%.
These are impressive economic performances.
And yet, alongside rising incomes, expenses also continue to increase.
💸 €1.022 billion in expenditure
Operating expenses reached €1.022 billion, an increase of 6%.
In other words, out of €1.06 billion in revenue, Barça already consumes almost that entire amount on its operations.
The sporting wage bill—including, in particular, salaries and amortization costs for the men's first team—alone amounts to €571 million, representing approximately 54% of the club's ordinary revenue.
She improved by another 7% in a single season.
Non-sporting salaries increased by 9% and administrative expenses by 12%.
This is probably the most important figure for understanding the situation:
Barça’s problem is no longer just its ability to generate revenue. It is its ability to keep its expenses from rising almost as quickly.
So why losses of €18 million?
An important nuance must be introduced here.
Barça’s ordinary operations are virtually no longer running at a loss.
The ordinary result for 2025–2026 is even slightly positive:
+200 000 €.
The **€18 million in net losses** stems notably from extraordinary items, including a further accounting write-down of **€23 million regarding Barça Produccions**.
To simply say that "Barça is losing money despite a billion in revenue" would therefore be incomplete.
The club's day-to-day operations have moved significantly closer to breaking even.
However, with over a billion euros generated, ending up with an ordinary profit of just €200,000 also highlights just how slim the margin of safety remains.
🔴 Gross debt of €910 million
This is likely where the main point requiring vigilance lies.
Net debt, calculated according to LaLiga's criteria, now stands at €607 million, compared to €469 million a year earlier.
That represents an increase of €138 million in just twelve months.
Gross debt, meanwhile, stands at €910 million.
Of this €910 million, approximately €597 million corresponds to financial institutions and bonds, while €167 million is still owed to other clubs for player transfers.
Barça's net worth also remains negative:
−168 M€.
These figures show that the economic recovery is not yet complete.
🏟️ And then there is the massive Camp Nou project.
The €910 million in gross debt does not include the specific financing for Espai Barça.
To renovate Camp Nou and its facilities, the club raised approximately €1.5 billion.
By combining the two sets, total accounting debt therefore stands at around €2.41 billion.
But here again, be careful not to mix up the figures.
The financing for Espai Barça was structured separately. The goal is for the new revenue generated by the stadium to cover the repayment of this specific debt.
That is why it is not treated in the same way in certain regulatory calculations by LaLiga and UEFA.
And that is precisely what turns the new Camp Nou into a major economic gamble.
📈 Barça is pinning high hopes on its new stadium.
The club's economic rationale is relatively simple.
Once fully operational, Espai Barça is expected to generate approximately €250 million in additional annual revenue, according to projections released by the club.
More spectators.
More VIP seats.
Hospitality.
Events.
Sponsorship.
Merchandising.
The stadium is therefore no longer merely a venue for playing football.
He is becoming one of the key economic drivers of the future Barça.
And that is where the subject becomes particularly interesting for FootProbability.
🎯 Camp Nou is also a probabilistic bet.
Barça is currently incurring definite expenses by anticipating future revenues.
Ultimately, the reasoning is very similar to that of an investment.
The club estimates that its new stadium will generate sufficient revenue to fund its development and contribute to repaying the debt incurred to build it.
However, these future revenues themselves depend on several variables:
stadium attendance, sporting results, international appeal, sponsorship, ticket prices, hospitality, and commercial performance.
The potential is immense.
However, projected income is not the same as income already received.
This is exactly the distinction we make every day at FootProbability between probability and certainty.
🚀 €1.195 billion expected starting this season
Barça has no plans to slow down, for that matter.
For 2026–2027, the club is already budgeting:
€1.195 billion in revenue.
That’s an additional €135 million in just one season.
At the same time, however, it projects a further increase in its sporting wage bill, which is expected to reach approximately €636 million.
And despite nearly €1.2 billion in expected revenue, the projected net profit is only…
1 million euros.
This contrast sums up almost the entire current financial situation at Barça.
📊 €1.2 billion in revenue, €1 million in profit
This does not necessarily mean that the model is bad.
A football club is not designed to maximize profits like a traditional business. A large portion of its revenue is naturally reinvested in the team in order to remain competitive.
But this means that the margin for error remains extremely narrow.
A premature elimination from the Champions League.
A decline in commercial revenue.
A further delay in the operation of the stadium.
A wage bill that is rising too rapidly.
A difference of a few tens of millions of euros can then completely alter the annual result.
That is exactly what happened this season: TV revenues dipped slightly because Barça failed to reach the Champions League semi-finals.
⚽ The common trap facing Europe's top clubs
Here, we see a phenomenon similar to the one recently observed with certain major French clubs.
The scale is obviously not comparable.
But the logic is similar:
The more incomes rise, the more ambitions rise; the more ambitions rise, the more spending rises.
The danger arises when certain expenses begin to depend on future income that remains uncertain.
Qualifying for the Champions League is never guaranteed.
A lucrative transfer is never guaranteed.
An increase in commercial revenue is never guaranteed.
And even for Barça, sporting results remain probabilistic.
🧠 Our FootProbability analysis
Barça is undoubtedly in better shape than at the height of its financial crisis.
Surpassing €1.06 billion in revenue while virtually breaking even on ordinary operations represents a major improvement.
However, it would be premature to claim that the club's financial problems are now behind it.
€910 million in gross debt.
€607 million in net debt according to LaLiga.
−€168 million in shareholders' equity.
And funding of €1.5 billion associated with Espai Barça.
Faced with this, the club also boasts an extraordinary commercial machine, a global brand, and now a stadium designed to generate significantly more revenue.
The real question, then, is probably no longer:
"Can Barça generate enough money?"
He has just demonstrated that he could do it.
The question becomes:
Can it grow its revenues faster than its expenses and debt?
And that battle will be fought just as much in the accounts as on the ground.